Driving the Baja

1970: Before there were roads

It's a good thing that our cheap Renault had a hole in the radiator and a crank to start the engine. The starter motor filled up with fine dust and quit doing the job until we rebuilt it in Bahia Constitucion. Mucho polvo.

On the dirt desert road, we found two mustangs headed south. The one was dead with a hole in the oil pan. We provided some fix-it putty from our complete kit of travel tools and a few cans of spare oil. The drivers were delighted and guided us up stream beds and over rocky mountain short-cuts for three days. Scary were the collection of stark white crosses at the base of every pass. Too deeply rutted for the Renault, we drove on the high middle and outside edges. Dagmar preferred to walk the impossible climbs.

Dagmar and I still spoke German as our Intimessprache. Believing we were German tourists, our Mexican friends shared that they were sorry we had lost the war." Ooops, we thought, this is a bit of a predicament.